Quick Community Question - Do You Read Sponsored Posts?
16 January, 2008 - Blogging, Quick Questions - 7 Comments
If you’re not familiar with the Quick Community Question series, please take a look at the launch post.
For this quick community question, I want to focus on sponsored posts. Usually these come in the form of sponsored Web site reviews.
Question: - When you’re subscribed to a blog and a new post appears in your feed reader, what do you do when you realise it is a sponsored post? Do you read it like any other post? Do you delete it from your reader without reading it?
I’ll start the discussion with my answer in the comments. Please join in by telling us what you do with sponsored posts.
This post was a part of my Quick Community Questions series. So many questions, so few words. That’s the basis of QCQ. Have a question? Email me and I’ll ask the community.
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Posted on 16 January, 2008 by Jamie Harrop
Filed Under Blogging, Quick Questions |
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I’m going to be brutally honest. Nine times out of ten, I don’t read sponsored reviews or any sponsored posts if I realise it is sponsored straight away. If I see a sentence at the top saying something like “Disclaimer: This is a Sponsored Post” then I almost always delete the post from my reader.
I think the key to a good sponsored post is including lessons within the post that your readers can benefit from. Don’t just give the sponsor a good return. Give your readers a good return too.
Hi Jamie,
to answer your question here is a little snippet from my google reader.
I read 100% of full posts, but only read partial feeds if the headline interests me.
I have a boring office job so I need something to fill my time, I just don’t pay attention to sponsored posts.
I honestly think 90% of sponsored posts don’t benefit anyone but the blogger and the sponsor. If I blogged for cash I would maybe think otherwise.
Hey Ben,
Thanks for the comment. 1,210 items in 30 days?! Ouch! That’s a lot of reading!
Your last sentence is spot on. I think for bloggers to make sponsored posts interesting, they should focus on a 50/50 benefit split for the reader and the sponsor. I actually just started writing a post titled “Tips For Better Sponsored Posts” so maybe I’ll go someway to improving the quality of these types of posts across the blogosphere.
I’ll read it if it is related to the blogs content. If I’m reading a blog about shoes and the sponsored post is about toasters then I have no interest in it at all.
I’ve seen a few sponsored posts that are very good and directly on topic for the blog. But I have also seen some really bad sponsored posts.
I’d shy away from reading them myself.
1) it commercialises the blog in a way that is far more in your face than AdSense or other sponsor links on the side.
2) it probably doesn’t reflect the type of post that I subscribed to the RSS for…
… but I’d probably still read it, or at least skim through.
Hi everyone,
I do same as Nick. I only read sponsored post which related with the blogs content. I think not all sponsored post are bad. Sometimes those could give some important information.
Just have a look at them first. Usually sponsored post is not a bad thing. Then why not have a look at it first. And usually it is about products or services that relevant with many people. And have nice infos too. So for me, i will look first the post before delete or something.